CADR Rating and mid-to-high end air filters?

[ravvlet]

Hey all, I’m currently using a Levoit Core 300S in my office, which also happens to be a bird room and is roughly 125sqft. I was looking into upgrading to a Rabbit Air, assuming the significantly higher price point (the Levoit 300S is $100, the Rabbit BioGS 2.0 SPA-550A is $370) would mean a significantly higher performance, however, the CADR rating is virtually the same!

Levoit Core 300S
Smoke: 141
Dust: 140
Pollen: 145

Rabbit BioGS SPA-550A
Smoke: 135
Dust: 149
Pollen: 162

Both filters are true HEPA filters. The Rabbit has a toggleable negative ionizer, the levoit does not.

The value I’m most concerned with is dust: Kirby is an orange wing amazon and is dusty as all get out, even with regular misting. I am forever scrubbing, wiping down, dusting around, and lamenting the amount of dust in and around his cage! My PC is right next to our filter and it is still full of dust also; I’m going to have to take it outside sometime this week and clean it out.

Running on high, the Levoit can do about 7.5 air changes an hour - I keep it on medium as it is rather noisy on high, so it probably does about 5. The Rabbit can do 4 air changes an hour at 275 sqft - so it does about 6 an hour at max fan level, which means it would likely exchange air *less* than the Levoit!

I just want there to be less dust! I swear I dust often, but I do work in my office, and have display shelving etc that really accumulates the dust. I was hoping to get something for sub-$500. Even more frustratingly, Levoit does NOT list their CADR breakdown for dust, smoke, and pollen for their larger and more powerful filters. Apparently only their 300 core model, and their pet model, are AHAM certified, which is how they would get those ratings.

In conclusion, I am very tired of dusting my office. Especially if we end up getting a cockatiel or similar dusty bird at some point again!

 

[ravvlet]

Ok, after another hour or so googling, I determined the Honeywell HPA300 is AHAM certified at around 300 CADR, which is double the performance, and is only about $180, so I think that’s what I’ll try next!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Ok, after another hour or so googling, I determined the Honeywell HPA300 is AHAM certified at around 300 CADR, which is double the performance, and is only about $180, so I think that’s what I’ll try next!

I have three Honeywell HPA300 Air Purifiers and I'm very happy with them. I vacuum huge amounts of budgie dust (and other dust) off the prefilter insert every week so I know it's working.

 

[ravvlet]

I have three Honeywell HPA300 Air Purifiers and I'm very happy with them. I vacuum huge amounts of budgie dust (and other dust) off the prefilter insert every week so I know it's working.

Heck yeah! I love that you use them already, makes me feel better about shelling out the cash for it. The Levoit we have isn’t bad, but we need something stronger for the bird room. We will put the Levoit in our bedroom once the new filter gets here. I love that it doesn’t have an ionizer I have to make sure is turned off too!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Heck yeah! I love that you use them already, makes me feel better about shelling out the cash for it. The Levoit we have isn’t bad, but we need something stronger for the bird room. We will put the Levoit in our bedroom once the new filter gets here. I love that it doesn’t have an ionizer I have to make sure is turned off too!

How big is your bird room? Does it have standard 7-8 foot ceilings or are the ceilings higher.

 

[SailBoat]

Just my reverse vantage point, but if your home uses a forced air furnace /AC system: I would start with that primary unit first. Near all homes have basic air filters and can be changed-out with higher end filters or changed out for a top-end filter upgrade with a 6"+ HEPA filter.

Also, having the air ducts cleaned removes the normal build-up that occurred over-time.

Happy that you have found a solution.

 

[ravvlet]

Just my reverse vantage point, but if your home uses a forced air furnace /AC system: I would start with that primary unit first. Near all homes have basic air filters and can be changed-out with higher end filters or changed out for a top-end filter upgrade with a 6"+ HEPA filter.

Also, having the air ducts cleaned removes the normal build-up that occurred over-time.

Happy that you have found a solution.

I wish it did! But we are in the PNW, homes with air conditioning are rare, and usually only older homes have a furnace and duct system. Our home was built in 2006 and has in-wall individual heating units in the rooms that need them.